Oakland County lieutenant recounts rescuing man from frozen lake
Just before 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve, a 71-year-old man's snowmobile fell through the ice on Pleasant Lake in Waterford Township, Michigan.
The Oakland County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue Team, along with Waterford's police and fire departments, went into that freezing lake in the snow and in the dark to find and save the man.
"He was in the water, submerged about waist-deep. He was still able to reach his cellphone and call his wife for help, and she, in turn, called 911," said Lieutenant Brian Burwell, who heads the county's search team. "Snowmobile was out under the ice, a gentleman had crashed through on one side of the lake near a marsh in the area."
Burwell says this incident is a reminder to use extreme caution around frozen lakes and to avoid traveling on ice unless conditions are known to be safe.
"Know before you go, so if you don't know the thickness of that ice, don't go out there. You know, with ice, you're looking at about 4 inches for foot traffic of thickness, snowmobiles and ATVs, you're looking at about 6 inches of ice," he said.
Authorities say two nearby neighbors went onto the ice in an attempt to locate the man, but were unable to do so before the Waterford Fire Department was able to pull the man out.
Other neighbors told CBS News Detroit on Friday that the man is on the lake frequently with his snowmobile, and that he did check the thickness of the ice.
"You gotta remember ice doesn't freeze the same on all parts of the lake, so just because you have maybe 3 or 4 inches of ice on one side of the lake doesn't mean it's going to be the same thickness on the other side of the lake," Burwell said.
Burwell says the man was in the freezing water for nearly 45 minutes before being saved, and if he hadn't had his phone, he most likely wouldn't have survived.
The man was transported to St. Joseph Hospital for treatment of minor injuries and is thankfully getting better.